President of Colombia’s mining union dies in car crash

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Raul Sossa, President of Sintramienergetica, Colombia’s national trade union for mining and energy workers, died in a car accident Thursday, according to local media.

The 55-year-old Sossa was traveling in a company car with his bodyguard and a union activist, who were also killed in the fatal accident, when they collided with a transport truck in the municipality of La Loma in the northern department of Cesar. They were reportedly going to visit a mine belonging to U.S.-based coal mining company, Drummond.

Sossa, who chaired the union for the past five years and spent the last 18 consulting for Drummond, “was one of the most seasoned executives in the defense of workers’ rights,” according to a Sintramienergetica press release.

President of Colombia’s mining union dies in car crash was last modified: June 21st, 2012 by Jet van Dijck